Starting Your Business With Help From Intranet Project Management Solutions

Carol Mentis,January 26, 2018

The start of any business is a very exciting but also stressful time in the life of a company. Building a team, establishing a culture and creating efficient ways of working are all important aspects at this early stage. Using a digital workplace can be a great way to practise efficient, connected and collaborative ways of working and there is no better time to get started than at the start of a company’s life.

Internet software platforms can make management of projects and documents easier and solve project management problems, which is particularly important at the early stage when a team can be working on any number of projects across different areas of a business. It’s easy to split work between team members, and, if using an intranet software platform as a hub for your team, it is easy for them to log on and mark tasks as complete. Team members can communicate easily as all users can log into one platform. This is particularly useful when team members are not all in the office together at the same time and/or may be working remotely.

Key features

All team members can access a project workspace created by any other members if granted access. Once able to access a workspace, members can add tasks, documents and data for the benefit of the rest of the team. Working with international team members or those who are out of the office or working from home is easy because communication is facilitated by the workspace – even if members aren’t online at the same time messages and information are stored for when they are ready to start working on it. Team members can also communicate in real time with the instant messaging function if they have questions that need to be answered there and then or want to communicate more quickly and easily than through other channels.

Managing and allocating tasks

Using an intranet software solution in the early days of a company can make allocating tasks and tracking deadlines much easier. It’s easy at this stage to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks that need to be completed and for tasks to therefore be lost or left incomplete for too long. Tensions can be high at the outset as the team will be pulling together to create something, so any software solutions that can bring team efficiencies and encourage collaboration are invaluable. For example, establishing a key customer and/or supplier base early on will be crucial to the success of many businesses. Using an intranet software solution to keep track of the need to follow up, send documents or information, or otherwise manage these relationships, can be critical. Celebrating wins at this stage is also key for team motivation. An intranet platform is the perfect place to monitor progress and celebrate achievements with the team. By keeping people in the loop and up to date on what is going on in all areas, they are more likely to stay motivated and work for the success of the company together.

Document storage and portfolios

At this stage, many companies will be building portfolios of documents to facilitate easier operations as they go. For example, building a collection of marketing materials, company images, fonts and brand guidelines, key financials, pitch documents and templates. Ensuring all team members use the latest versions of documents is key when building a brand and using mismatched documents can really impact how professional your young company looks to outsiders. Using an online platform allows all team members to see documents that are up to date.

Accessing documents in soft copy also keeps printing costs down, an efficiency that can’t be underestimated particularly in the early days when every penny can mean the difference between profit and loss. Keeping documents online also helps to ensure confidentiality and is much better for the environment.

Connecting with others

Collaborative software solutions can also be used with third parties. For example, you may wish to create a financial workspace that could be accessed by accountants, or key documents space for disclaimer review by lawyers. Having advisers access your workspace makes it easier for you to receive and provide questions and answers. You can make parts of the workspace visible to different parties, so it is easy to customise access as needed.

Building your team with project management software

If you are interested in project management software or wish to discuss the benefits that this type of system can bring to your business, contact Claromentis today. We love to provide systems to make establishing a business more collaborative, more connected and certainly more efficient. To learn about collaborative software solutions and how they can help you in establishing your business call on 0800 409 6101 or email us with any questions.

Get in touch with us today to see how we can help your startup or SME!